Michael Bay's career, the clearest evidence yet that you can never have too many explosions*, continues to do some blowing up of its own with Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen raking in $20m in its limited international release this weekend and finally dislodging The Hangover from the the UK box office.
Unusually for a summer tentpole, **Transformers: **Revenge Of The Fallen ** **has scored an international release before its US opening this Wednesday, but if the UK and Japanese openings are anything to go by, the signs are good for the autobots Stateside. Revenge Of The Fallen outperformed the original's 'botic-bayhem by a spectacular 71%, and came within a whisker of beating Dark Knight's opening weekend.
Meanwhile in the US, Disney's rom-com** The Proposal** finishes the weekend at the top of the box office, proving that Ryan Reynolds + Sandra Bullock + smooching = kaaa-ching. At $34.1m, it's Bullock's best ever opening, no mean feat considering **Speed **went on to gross $350m worldwide.
The Hangovercontinues to draw US crowds with its blend of big laughs and bigger cats, grossing $159.2m, while **Up **is floating serenely towards Star Trek's record figure of $239.4m. Jack Black's biblical comedy Year One, meanwhile, had a less-than-biblical opening weekend, scoring $20m across 3000 screens.
that's *cinematic *explosions, just to be clear.